Buying new computer - looking for guidance
By
BlackArua,
Posted on: 2011-03-01 10:26 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
64 is plenty for the operating system, CoH, all kinda other necessary programs for browsing, security, etc... and even another game like... CoD for example. Then you are getting to the end.
Quote:
Aye. Keep an eye on this. My OS disk with CoH and CoH Beta on it weighs in at 51GB.|
Originally Posted by fallenz
You may need to get a bigger SSD. You may not have enough room for everything you need to run off of the SSD plus CoH. Most builders I know or read about got with 120GB for plenty of room to run.
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That includes:
Office 2007
VMWare 7
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Thunderbird
SQL Server (the main directory is on another drive but some stuff STILL gets written to your OS drive regardless).
Photoshop
Trillian
And that's about it.
With 64GB, if you're installing much more than I have, you're going to be bumping against 90% disk utilization, at which point filesystem performance goes for a cordless bungee jump.
However, I would recommend against buying the drives I did. Basically OCZ tried to stealth-upgrade their Agility and Vertex lines to .25nm memory from .35nm without changing part numbers. The problem is, the actual drive capacity went DOWN due to chip size and how the controller worked, and the newer memory has a lower write-cycle (by almost 40%), as well as massive performance degradation (speed is cut in half).
Even more unforgivable, they didn't fess up until called on it.
If you're going to spend $400 on a drive setup, you want PERFORMANCE. The new OCZ Vertex and Agility drives won't deliver that right now.
So look at spending the extra money for the 128GB version.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Hey, Hyper sorry didn't follow the $400 comparison... is that what you spent?
I like my Vertex and find the performamce least on par, without any tweaking I'm booting in just at 35 seconds.
In all honesty I would hold off the SSD for now. You can always install one later as the boot drive.
The reason to hold off is the "soon" to be released slew of SSDs based on the new Sandforce 2xxx series controller. SATA III with much higher throughput than even the Crucial 300 series, around 500 megabytes per second for read and write.
As for the case, I lean toward the 600T myself. The main reason for not using it in my $1350 Rig is the price, it's unit price is still $160 at NewEgg which is what I use to price my rigs.
What's important when choosing a case, at least for me are;
Fits the hardware I'm planing on installing (ie motherboard, video card, CPU heatsink);
Has the front ports I want, where I prefer them;
Has power supply at the bottom (makes the case less top heavy);
Has plenty of cooling;
Has good cable management which helps cooling and upgrades.
The rest, side window, LED fan colors, colors, materials or door over the external drive bays, is personal preference.
What isn't on my list is toolless assembly. A PC isn't a snap-fit model kit. If I put in a drive, video card or other expansion card, I want to screw them in securely and not rely on plastic clamps to hold parts in position. But that's me.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Thank you for your thoughts! I really appreciate that everyone is actively helping.
For the SSD, you raise good points fallnz and Hyperstrike. As Dissolution mentioned, I will only be using it for Windows 7 and City Of Heroes (Live). 64GB is plenty for that.
I'll keep an eye on my habits. If I find myself unable to resist adding more and getting towards 90% usage, I'll invest in a second larger drive.
I don't doubt that there is going to be a SSD revolution soon, Father_Xmas, probably because of the Sandy Bridge. However I'm ready to finalize my decisions now. At this point the only thing I'm willing to wait on is the motherboard. I look forward to a SSD with jaw-dropping ability whenever I do shop for that second SSD.
For the case, it looks like votes are tilted towards the Corsair 600T. Dissolution encourages Corsair 600T. Even Father_Xmas likes the Corsair 600T over the COOLER MASTER CM 690 II Advanced. It is nice to see that Ironblade is happy with the Antec 900, which reinforces the Newegg.com votes.
You have a good point about sound, Dissolution. Especially as the front of the Corsair 600T is a large honeycomb vent which will not block internal noise. As far as I know all the components are quiet and the case itself generates no noticable ruckus.
So unless anyone has specific cons against the Corsair 600T, I will indulge in it as it best matches my preferences.
Thank you again!
Hazzah! I have a computer! Well, as soon as the parts are in stock, ordered, shipped, delivered, and assembled. But still!
Here it is...
Processor/CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
- CPU cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
- CPU compound: Arctic Silver 5
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 PRO (B3)
- Sound Card: (integrated into Motherboard)
- Network Card: (integrated into Motherboard)
Memory: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
Video Card: MSI GeForce N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC
SSD: Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB
Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST
Power Supply: CORSAIR HX750W
Case: CORSAIR 600T
Monitor: (reuse) HP w2408 24" widescreen LCD Monitor - resolution 1920 x 1200
- Speakers: (reuse - integrated into Monitor)
Keyboard: (reuse) USB wireless HP model # KG-0636
Mouse: (reuse) USB wireless HP model # MG-0637T
External Hard Drive: (reuse) Maxtor OneTouch4 750 GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Unless a problem with COMPATIBILITY is pointed out to me, I am perfectly happy with the capacity of all the individual components.
Thank you, everyone, for sharing your time, knowledge, expertise, opinions, and patience to guide me towards a final decision. You have no idea how immensely it has helped! Getting to this point on my own would have been, in a word, impossible.
Thank you.
Your link to that motherboard says that product has been deactivated. Also it's not the B3 version.
The up to date one may be available someday at NewEgg, just not right now.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Right, sorry to confuse.
I have a link in my off-line notes to a current B3 version at another vendor, but it is out of stock there too. So for now I'm using that bookmark to the old listing to help make sure I look for the right ASUS motherboard model to show up again on Newegg.
Congratulations Yydr, enjoy your new computer.
So the new comp has been happily up and working for a while. I must say, CoH looks PRETTY! Lots of "Oh, it THAT how it is supposed to look?" moments.
I was thinking about writing up a review for the CoH forums, but had a couple questions.
1) Would anyone want to read my thoughts on Sandy Bridge and SSD with CoH?
2) If so, would here in the Technical forums be the best place for it, or is in the Guide section more appropriate?
Thoughts and opinions would be very welcomed, please.
Quote:
An SSD will speed up general OS load-in times and programs whose startup times are constrained by disk I/O will see a boost.|
Originally Posted by Yydr
So the new comp has been happily up and working for a while. I must say, CoH looks PRETTY! Lots of "Oh, it THAT how it is supposed to look?" moments.
I was thinking about writing up a review for the CoH forums, but had a couple questions. 1) Would anyone want to read my thoughts on Sandy Bridge and SSD with CoH? 2) If so, would here in the Technical forums be the best place for it, or is in the Guide section more appropriate? Thoughts and opinions would be very welcomed, please. |
With CoH, you'll see a small performance bump on zone loads (for the portions of zone load that rely on local disk I/O).
What you WON'T see is an FPS boost.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Probably a guide would be best with a link to it in your sig.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Probably a guide would be best with a link to it in your sig.
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Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Crosstalk. My comment was to Yydr.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
You may need to get a bigger SSD. You may not have enough room for everything you need to run off of the SSD plus CoH. Most builders I know or read about got with 120GB for plenty of room to run.